They think they've driven the stake through the vampire's heart. They think they've slain the dragon. They should think again.

All they've done is rile up the Republicans who make up the majority of the voters in the Texas 22nd district. A lot of them are going to resent the Democrats' tactics here, and they'll go out and vote for DeLay just to spit in the eye of those who say they should vote for the Democrat or not vote at all. The man in that article who says that he would have been undecided until the judge's ruling but will now vote for DeLay is a perfect example of pure Texas orneriness.

I think it's going to come back and bite the Democrats in the butt. They were rid of DeLay, he'd already moved out of state, and all they needed to do was run their candidate against an unknown Republican without the advantages of incumbency. Instead, it looks like they'll get a reinvigorated Tom DeLay who will be cast as a sympathetic figure, not as an ethically-challenged career politician. And truth to tell, he's certainly no worse than Senator Harry "Fight Club" Reid (D-Nevada), the minority leader of the Senate, or Representative William "Cold Hard Cash" Jefferson (D-Louisiana) or Representative Alan "Ethics, Shmethics" Mollohan (D-West Virginia). And I won't even mention the latest Pardongate allegations involving the Rodham and Clinton families (although I will say the Latin phrase "quid pro quo").

The dragon wasn't dead, only wounded, and the would-be dragonslayers capering around what they thought was a corpse may be about to get a very nasty surprise. I hope that DeLay roasts them good, just so that I can listen to the Democrats scream.